With the news of the asteroid mining by Planetary Resources, Inc. hitting today, what do you see as the potential outgrowth of technology from this? Obviously a lot of this is still in planning stages, but the technology needed to complete this on the scale they are planning has yet to be created. I would imagine they would use some sort of ion thruster/solar panel to move the asteroids into an orbit where they can be mined and processed.
Ultimately what do you think the near future goal of such endeavors be? A mining/refueling station located near L1 for earth/moon travel? Something grander?
P.S You were great at w00tstock!
EDIT: Well apparently this answers all my questions! Here!
Reddhat4 karma
With the news of the asteroid mining by Planetary Resources, Inc. hitting today, what do you see as the potential outgrowth of technology from this? Obviously a lot of this is still in planning stages, but the technology needed to complete this on the scale they are planning has yet to be created. I would imagine they would use some sort of ion thruster/solar panel to move the asteroids into an orbit where they can be mined and processed.
Ultimately what do you think the near future goal of such endeavors be? A mining/refueling station located near L1 for earth/moon travel? Something grander?
P.S You were great at w00tstock!
EDIT: Well apparently this answers all my questions! Here!
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